Dan Skelton out of traps fast in trainers’ title battle with Cheltenham double

The feature race had a finish worthy of the festival itself here on Friday, as Harry Skelton summoned a final lunge for the line from Fortune De Mer in the Grade Two novice hurdle and edged out Doctor Blue by a short-head. “He’s a quirky sort,” Dan Skelton, the winner’s trainer, said afterwards, “but he’s got plenty of ability, and that’s an 80 grand race, so we won’t worry about the next one too quickly.”

Skelton already has the County Hurdle at the festival meeting here in March as a long-term target for Friday’s winner – “it would really suit him, lots of runners and smuggling him around in a race like that” – while the £48k first prize was supplemented by a further £52k for his prize money total when Calico took the feature handicap chase later on the card.

That was more than enough to extend Skelton’s lead at the top of the trainers’ table after Olly Murphy, currently his closest rival, had taken the novice chase with Alnilam earlier on the card, and he is currently odds-on to win the championship for the first time when the season concludes in April.

Having seen the prize snatched away by Willie Mullins’s familiar springtime surge in each of the last two campaigns, however, he will take nothing for granted until the final penny has been counted.

“It’s a long way off but we’re very lucky with the team we’ve got,” Skelton said. “I think it’s stronger than last year, but as Willie pushes you, it has to be stronger than last year.

“And everyone’s trying harder and it amazes me, the level of competition right now, how fit they have to be right now, and that’s before you’re getting there [to the spring].”

The New Lion, unbeaten in five starts including the Turner’s Novice Hurdle at the Festival last season, will be a key horse in Skelton’s championship challenge and is on course to reappear in the Grade One Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle on 29 November.

“Everything’s going smoothly to get him to the Fighting Fifth, but you won’t hear me overinflate and tell you that he’s going to win three Champion Hurdles,” Skelton said. “That’s not what horses need, we’ll prepare him the best we can and hopefully he’s a contender in March, but we’ve got some big days before that.”

Mountain can scale heights for O’Brien

Aidan O’Brien’s prospects of beating his own record for Group One wins in a calendar year diminished last weekend when he missed out in all five of the top-level events on Champions Day at Ascot, but he appears to have an iron grip on the Futurity Trophy at Doncaster on Saturday, the final Group One of the British Flat season.

O’Brien fields three of the six runners – Benvenuto Cellini, Hawk Mountain and Action – and they fill the first three spots in the early betting, with Benvenuto Cellini, the mount of Christophe Soumillon, heading the market at around 5-4.

The favourite was an emphatic five-length winner at Leopardstown last time and is the long-range 12-1 market leader for next year’s Derby, but he has yet to race on anything slower than good-to-soft going.

Hawk Mountain, though, was a comfortable winner on soft in the Group Two Beresford Stakes at the Curragh last month, posting a useful time in the process.

Ronan Whelan, his jockey there, keeps the ride on Saturday and with the ground at Doncaster now heavy after recent rain, Hawk Mountain (2.05) is a solid bet at around 9-4 to notch a record-extending 12th win in this race for his trainer.

Cheltenham 1.10 Inox Allen produced a fine round of jumping on his second chase start in April and this race should suit his front-running style.

Doncaster 1.30 This could be set up for the hold-up runner Rosario, who would have gone close with a clear run last time.

Cheltenham 1.45 Several promising novices in opposition with Minella Supreme the marginal pick at around 5-1 given his trainer’s excellent record at the track.

Cheltenham 2.20 Dunboyne has been transformed by a stable switch earlier this year and looks fairly weighted on his fourth in the Irish Grand National in April.

Doncaster 2.40 A slight drop in grade should do the trick for Lam Yai after a close second in a Group Three last month.

Cheltenham 2.55 Winning Smut won a similar contest at Galway in August and looks sure to be suited by the step up in trip

Newbury 3.10 The form of Stellar Sunrise’s nursery win at York in August was franked when the runner-up took a Listed race next time and this Group Three looks a logical next step.

Cheltenham 3.30 The progressive Give It To Me Oj won off 137 at Sandown in April and has plenty in hand of his rivals back in a level-weights event here.

Newbury 3.45 Last year’s Zetland Stakes winner, Starzintheireyes, has a little to find with the favourite, Ancient Wisdom, on their form at Goodwood in September but that was his first start for almost a year and he will also appreciate the step up in trip.

Cheltenham 4.05 A good opportunity for the game and consistent Intense Approach to further improve an impressive strike-rate.